After getting him so relaxed last night—and then getting the best night’s sleep I’d had in years with him tucked against me and safe in my arms—I’d watched his anxiety start to creep in again this morning once Sam got a hold of him and hit him with a veritable tsunami of “fun” plans.
I was proud of him, though. He hadn’t let that anxiety stop him from agreeing to participate. Some of his hesitation, I gathered, was that he didn’t feel quite as… playful as the other Littles. But a part of it had definitely been about not wanting to be away from his Daddy, too, even though he hadn’t said so in so many words.
Okay, settled. As if there had ever been any doubt. I was going to track him down and spend as much of our remaining time in Asheville with him as possible. And, of course, the rest of my life, too, assuming he’d really meant it yesterday when he’d promised to be mine.
But therewouldbe logistics to work out, so I had to accept that my 24/7 ideal wasn’t going to happen immediately.
And if Rene never wanted it? If he needed more time on his own? Well, I could adapt. I liked being in control, but that was different than beingcontrolling. And what I’d said to him was true: now that I’d found him, my happiness was only going to be complete if he was happy, too.
I grabbed my keycard and wallet and tucked them into my pocket, more than ready to go find him and make sure that he was happy right now—or move heaven and earth to fix that condition, if he wasn’t—but when I reached for my phone, it vibrated with an incoming call.
Greg.
I debated for a moment, then declined the call. It was Saturday. I wanted to find my boy. I’d done enough work for the day, anything else could wait.
He immediately called back.
“What?” I asked snappishly after swiping to answer.
“Oh, good,” he said dryly. “I started to worry after our call yesterday that you’d had a personality transplant, butthat’sthe sunny, cheerful Edward Garrett I know and love.”
I snorted, my lips twitching a little. “I was on my way out the door.”
“Oh? Heading back to Wilmington now that your business at The Plazerra is done?”
Of course he would already know about the meeting I’d had this morning. He did seem to have his finger a little more on the pulse of things here than I might have expected when it came to simply managing a financial asset. It just strengthened my suspicions that he wasn’t quite as vanilla as I’d always assumed. Not even that interesting thought was enough to make me want to stay on the phone longer than necessary, though.
“My business at The Plazerra isn’t done, actually,” I said. “I won’t be back in Wilmington until Monday at the earliest.”
Or later, depending on what I needed to do to make sure Rene got home safely and then… stayed in my life.
“It’s not?” Greg asked, his voice sharpening. “I just spoke with Bradley, and he said you’d agreed not to sell.”
“True,” I said, grinning. Itwasa kink-friendly hotel, as I’d started to suspect. It also catered specifically to the LGBTQ+ community, and Bradley and Dennis went above and beyond being simply “welcoming,” to ensuring that it was a safe space that was also tied into the local Asheville kink and queer communities. They carefully vetted all their staff, and frequently hosted events, like this Cuffd-sponsored weekend, that gave visitors a place to truly be themselves in a non-judgmental environment.
“Healsosaid you’d promised to talk to me about increasing their operating budget to fund some of the outreach projects they’ve been pestering me about. Is that why you’re staying?”
“No,” I said. “I’m done with thebusinesspart of my business here. But I do still have some personal business—”
“Personal business by the name of Rene Boucher?” Greg interrupted, sounding almost gleeful.
My eyebrows shot up. “I mentioned his nameonce, Greg.”
“Yes, the only man you’ve mentioned any interest at all in over the last five years. Shocking that I’d still remember his name an entire day later,” he said sarcastically.
I laughed, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Okay, yes. Rene is the only business I’m interested in right now. So now that you’ve heard me say it, can we end this call so I can go find him?”
Greg snorted. “You just found him, and now you’ve already misplaced him?”
“Ihavebeen in a meeting all morning,” I reminded him. “And it wasn’t like I could just leave him propped up in a corner of our hotel room, waiting for me to come back and… play with him.”
Oh, hell. I shouldn’t have said that. I could see it, just like I’d pictured last night. Rene needing a break from his worries. Going into that dreamy headspace he’d seemed to slip into for a bit last night. A beautiful doll, posed and pretty and displayed here in the hotel room to wait for me, or propped up in my office back home while I worked…
“Edward?” Greg said, sounding like it wasn’t the first time he’d said my name.
“Sorry,” I said, refocusing and determined to ignore my cock’s interest in that particular fantasy.
For now.
